Son of God

This movie was a excellent summary of the inspiring life of Jesus, performed in the theme of the era He spent on earth. The story telling is deliberate and well portrayed by an excellent cast. I would recommend it for everyone, young and old, who is looking for the true meaning of the Christian religion.

This film tells the life of Jesus Christ as a story. Directed by Christopher Spencer, its a spin-off from the series "The Bible", of the "History Channel". The main role is played by Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado. This film has been subject of negative reviews for allegedly not do a literal reading of the biblical texts. Evangelical Christians were furious, conservative Catholics too. Some of the criticism has logic but others are pure religious fanaticism of people for whom the Bible is untouchable, no matter how many times it has been mistranslated, amputated (in pages or even entire books), rewritten and censored until get the version that we have in our house. This is the problem when we talk about movies with religious themes: people just aren't able to see beyond their beliefs. When I knew that "History Channel" would make this spin-off, I knew immediately that it was just to make the most profit of a production that had been very expensive. Since a few years ago, the contents of this TV channel (at least here, in the western corner of Europe) has had less and less quality (the programs come from America and speak only about pawn shops, cars, scrap and theories, absolutely idiotic, about ancient extraterrestrials). So I loved the original series, it was much better than the programs they normally broadcast. I didn't expect something too glued to the biblical text but a tale, inspired in the concept "Bible told as a story". The film follows this model, telling Jesus'story from birth to ascension. Purists may not like it but, nowadays, this material can be very useful, drawing attentions to the Bible in a world when every less people have it in home. The film does a very regular job telling the life of Jesus. Its greatest sin is still too much like the TV series, as if it were an expanded chapter. The special, visual and sound effects aren't cinematic enough, the soundtrack is not particularly relevant. As a movie film its bad, but as a TV film it works well. The actors, as expected, are absurdly unknown to most of the public. This includes the protagonist, the Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado, who made Jesus Christ. Like most of the Portuguese, I followed Morgado's career, who gained fame in our country through television soap operas and series, and a few Portuguese movies where he participated. Its not a bad choice for the role, although I think that Jesus will probably have been much darker than Morgado (the actor even has light brown hair), like most of the Jews.

A good telling of the story of Jesus, but I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it's perfect. Obviously Christian audiences are going to enjoy it the most, even if it has some inconsistencies here and there that aren't entirely factual. Once again those who have something against God, Jesus, and religion and general are going to hate it. That's sort of my main problem with the movie. Even though it does a good job of telling the tale it does nothing to give those outside of the Christian faith a reason to care. It won't give them any reason to doubt themselves or make them wonder, which is something I believe a truly great telling of the story of Jesus (and religion in general) should do. I think most of this has to do with the way it plays out. The majority of the movie is a string of the big moments in the life of Jesus that are popular in Sunday school lessons, and those who know the tales will have fun figuring out which ones are which, but they are tied together with little to no context which means that those unfamiliar with the tales will feel somewhat lost. The crucifixion scenes do hold power, but the moments leading up to them will not make those who do not care about Jesus, well, care. For Christian audiences this is a movie that does a good job of telling a large portion of the story of Jesus, and I feel that this is the audience it was going for. Non-Christian audiences are better off looking for a movie that will actually do more to get them interested in the "stories" of God and Jesus, or even asking a Christian to tell them about it or visiting a church. This movie won't do much to peek their curiosity. As it stands it's a harmless movie that Christian audiences will both enjoy and respect. It's just a shame I do not see a reason why it would do anything for those who are not of the faith. If it had I would have rated the movie higher. My total score is a 6.5/10=Okay.

Son of God brings the story of Jesus' life and while there's certainly some good performances (especially from Diogo Morgado), this movie is immeasurably dull and way too clumsy to unlock entertainment.

This movie, like other movies like this, fails to deliver the story. The directors always assume that 1. it is going to be easy because the story is already written for them and 2. that everyone needs god. The director never tells the bible like a fantasy story like it is, but instead try to make it as believable as possible and meet an agenda. honestly, not worth the time or money